Promoting Sustainable Agriculture

Around the world, food grain consumption is outstripping its production. For India too, the challenge is to grow more food for a burgeoning population. With fragmented and small sized landholdings, low productivity, climate change and dwindling water resources, it has become imperative for this country to explore all options to increase food production.

One highly effective solution is to increase the mass of arable land by enriching nutrient deficient soil. This solution is embedded in Chambal's vision to create a sustainable agrarian economy for delivering food security for India.

The key driver of Chambal's vision is Uttam Bandhan – a pioneering agriculture development and community welfare programme, initiated in partnership with farmers. The basic premise of the Uttam Bandhan programme is that agricultural productivity and incomes are inextricably linked to the fertility of farm land.

The main thrust of Uttam Bandhan, therefore, is re-vitalization and restoration of cultivable land. Uttam Bandhan is one of the largest technology-based interventions for promoting and managing soil health in rural India by a private sector fertilizer company in India.

Under this programme, farmers are using various contact points to access information on scientific farming practices, learn about latest, high quality agri-inputs, locate authorized dealers, get the latest local weather forecast and know about non-farm businesses. Most significantly, it is empowering farmers to cope with problems like nutrient-deficient soils, low water tables and indiscriminate use of fertilisers and pesticides.